Halls of Justice, on the right bank of the
Tiber, near Hadrian's Mausoleum. As a rule, the ceremony of cutting
the brass clamps which fasten the lids of urns and sarcophagi is
performed in one of our archaeological repositories, where the contents
can be quietly and carefully examined, away from an excited and
sometimes dangerous crowd. In the present case this plan was found
impracticable, because the coffin was ascertained to be filled with
water which had, in the course of centuries, filtered in, drop by
drop, through the interstices of the lid. The removal to the Capitol
was therefore abandoned, not only on account of the excessive weight
of the coffin, but also because the shaking of the water would have
damaged and disordered the skeleton and the objects which, perchance,
were buried inside.

The marble sarcophagus was embedded in a stratum of blue clay, at a
depth of twenty-five feet below the level of the city, that is, only
four or five feet above the level of the Tiber, which runs close by.
It was inscribed simply with the name CREPEREIA TRYPHAENA, and
decorated with bas-reliefs representing the scene of her death. No
sooner had the seals been broken, and the lid put aside, than my
assistants, myself, and the whole crowd of workmen from the Halls of
Justice, were almost horrified at the sight before us. Gazing at the
skeleton through the veil of the clear water, we saw the skull
covered, as it were, with long masses of brown hair, which were
floating in the liquid crystal. The comments made by the simple and
excited crowd by which we were surrounded were almost as interesting
as the discovery itself. The news concerning the prodigious hair
spread like wild-fire among the populace of the district; and so the
exhumation of Crepereia Tryphaena was accomplished with unexpected
solemnity, and its remembrance will last for many years in the popular
traditions of the new quarter of the Prati di Castello. The mystery of
the hair is easily explained. Together with the spring-water, germs or
seeds of an aquatic plant had entered the sarcophagus, settled on the
convex surface of the skull, and developed into long glossy threads of
a dark shade.

[Illustration: OBJECTS FOUND IN THE GRAVE OF CREPEREIA TRYPHAENA]

The skull was inclined slightly towards the left shoulder and towards
an exquisite little doll, carved of oak, which was lying on the
scapula, or shoulder-blade. On each side of the head were gold
earrings wit